On the 28th February – 5th March 2022 Henry Smith, Founder of The Wickers Charity and CEO of London property developer Aitch Group, enrolled a team of five people including model and influencer Jake Hall, who tackled the ‘toughest four days on skis’ known as Everest in the Alps. The team took on this challenge to raise money for The Wickers Charity, based in Hackney, which Mr Smith founded in 2018. So far, the team have raised over £30,000 for the cause.
The team climbed roughly 8,000ft each day over four days beginning in Geneva to reach the overall target of 29,031 ft – the same height as Mount Everest. The gruelling event in the Alps took approximately 40 hours of ski touring with the average time out on the snow each day around 11 hours. Each day, each member of the team will burnt roughly 10,000 calories, the equivalent to running three back to back marathons – the ultimate endurance challenge. The temperature hovered around freezing during daylight hours at resort level and droppede by approximately 6.5 degrees for every 1000m gained in elevation.
The Wickers Charity mission is to deliver activities that keep young people off the street and build their life skills, provide positive role models that give hope for a better life and prepare them for a positive future, as well as giving them access to opportunities for employment. Overall, the aim is to prevent young people from entering a life of crime by providing opportunities to succeed in life. With a personal connection to the consequences of knife crime in East London, having lost his brother-in-law, Mr Smith has made it his own personal mission to make sure other families do not suffer in the same way.
Mr Smith previously climbed the tallest peak in Antarctica, Mount Vinson, and raised £150,000 for the charity in January 2019. This, along with the money Mr Smith is raising from the climb this February, goes towards funding a range of activities, workshops and programmes for the children and young people in East London who are involved with The Wickers Charity.
With murders and knife crime in London at an all-time high, prior to lockdown, with 15,080 knife offences recorded in 2019, the importance of charities such as The Wickers Charity remains vitally important. The lessons and skills learnt, along with the positive social interactions made at The Wickers Charity can be life changing.
In the past 18 months, The Wickers Charity worked with many businesses and collaborated with other local originations, to deliver employability programmes and workshops. The courses are designed to ensure the young people involved are set on the right path with the right support, rather than falling trap to gang related crime. It is events like these, along with many other initiatives hosted by The Wickers Charity that Mr Smith hopes to fund by testing his endurance and tackling ‘Everest in the Alps’.
Jake Hall, Creative Director of Prevu Studio and Influencer, says “I am honoured to be part of a team raising money for such a worthwhile cause. Knife crime levels in London are unacceptable and I hope that by raising money through this challenge we can help to steer the youth through The Wickers Charity towards a better future.”
Henry Smith Founder of Wickers Charity and CEO at Aitch Group says “The Wickers Charity aids a cause that I am personally extremely passionate about. Having lost my brother-in-law to knife crime, I have set out to try and positively impact the lives of the children in East London with the hope of reducing knife crime in the borough and the capital. We would be grateful of anything people can do to support the Everest in Alps team and the charities involved – The Wickers Charity & The Brain Tumour Charity – both of which are wonderful causes.”
To support The Wickers Charity visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/everestinthealps2022
